The Angry Bear

Unionists are not theorists; unionism is an eminently practical thing. — Robert F. Hoxie  Theory and trade unionism are almost contradictory terms. — Edward M. Arnos   In accordance with this theory it is held that there is a certain fixed amount of work to be done… David F. Schloss Paul Samuelson once wrote that it takes a theory to kill a theory. He didn’t say it had to be a better theory. What would it take to kill a theory that never was? The...

Saudi Succession Shuffle A not unexpected event has just been announced: 31-year old Prince Muhammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Sa’ud has been elevated from Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia by his father, 81-year old King Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdul-Rahman al-Sa’ud, to replace his 57-year old cousin, Prince Muhammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz al-Sa’ud.  The former Crown Prince is Minister of the Interior, a position he inherited from his father, the late...

he McConnell Obamacare repeal and replace “discussion draft” is worse than I imagined possible even taking into account that it would be worse than I imagined possible. I fear he made sure it was horrible so moderate Senators could win staged battles and claim they had saved people (needless to say I am not the first to write of this possibility). I guess a vox explainer is always useful and Sarah Kliff is very smart thorough and reliable. The bill is...

From Robert F. Hoxie, Trade Unionism in the United States, 1917: There is much scorn of unionists by economists and employers because of this lump of labor theory with its corollaries. This scorn is based on the classical supply and demand theory and its variants. Supply is demand. Increased efficiency in production means an increase of social dividend and increased shares, which in turn increase production and saving. Therefore, the workers cut off their...

I have not had a chance to read through this; but, I thought I would put this out here for all of us to read, Senate Version AHCA McConnell Updated this post with the changes proposed in the McConnell Senate Bill as taken from today’s Washington Post. Washington Post Version How Senate Republicans Plan to Dismantle Obamacare; Washington Post; Haeyoun Park and Margot Sanger – Katz; June 22, 2017

Diane Ravitch offers more on schools in America: Here is Andrew Coulson Series on Virtues of Privatization by dianeravitch Watch libertarian Andrew Coulson’s film, now showing on some, not all, PBS stations around the nation. It was paid for by libertarian foundations that support privatization. The lead funder–the Rose-Mary and Jack Anderson Foundation– is a conduit for the Koch brothers and DeVos family foundations. http://www.pbs.org/show/school-inc/...

Institute for New Economic Thinking Lance Taylor describes his thinking on the great divide.  Worth a look: President Trump, in his inaugural address and elsewhere, rightly says that over the decades since 1980 American household distributions of income and wealth became strikingly unequal. But if recent budget and legislative proposals from Trump and the House of Representatives come into effect, today’s distributional mess would become visibly worse. First,...

George Borjas, perhaps the US’ pre-eminent immigration economist notes: Maybe it’s just me because I instinctively read in between the lines whenever I read anything about immigration, but I’m beginning to detect such a seismic shift in the immigration debate. We all know the party line by now: Immigrants do jobs that natives don’t want to do. As a result, natives do not lose jobs, and natives do not see their wages reduced. And anyone who claims otherwise is...

Lifted from Middle Class Political Economist is the announcement related to  Angry Bear Dr. Kenneth Thomas video series Wednesday, June 29, 2016 New book on investment incentives will help shape policies debates for years to come This past week I received my chapter author’s copy of a new book from Columbia University Press, Rethinking Investment Incentives: Trends and Policy Options. Based initially on the November 2013 conference on investment incentives...